On winging it and getting help

I’m really great at winging it. It’s truly a gift from God. Put me in a new situation, and I will most likely be able to figure it out. Heck, you may not even realize I am winging it unless I admit it to you. But this gift has limits, and those limits have kept me from constantly improving at my goals. I can’t really succeed without outside help.

I can’t really succeed without outside help.

I have been crawling, kicking, clawing, and fighting to get my company rolling. To be honest, there were some seasons of curling up in the fetal position mixed in as well. We are moving forward, and we get better in some form or another month after month.

But about 3 months ago, I was feeling stuck. I new there was more I could be doing as the CEO of my company, but I had no idea what that was. I had reached the limit of my ability to wing it. Faced with this reality, I asked for help.

I started by shadowing a CEO friend of mine at his older and much larger company for a day. It was gold. I took what I learned and put it to work. And all of the sudden my office was filled with energy and fuel we did not have before. The walls became lined with dry erase boards full of scoreboards, goals, tracking metrics. We immediately grew as a team. Our revenue grew too.

And then I found myself in that familiar position once again…that feeling that there was more I could be doing. Once again, I was as far as I could go on my own.

So…I enrolled in coaching. I started reading. I filled my “extra” time with anything any mentor or article claimed could help me be a better leader. I took the good stuff, and put it into practice. Once again, my office is buzzing with energy and fuel and focus. The team is excited and we are growing.

If only I realized all of this sooner…

I don’t regret winging it in the beginning. In fact, I don’t think the company would be where it is if it wasn’t for that. It wouldn’t have the same personality.

Our team wouldn’t have the same grit and toughness.

We wouldn’t know how it feels to crawl and kick and claw and fight and even curl up into the fetal position and pray the pain would go away.

We wouldn’t learn to get up over and over.

Or how to trust our gut.

Or smell B.S.

Most importantly, we wouldn’t have appreciated the help so much.

Thank you to all of the helpers in my life. You are building a legacy through the help you give.